Former Eskom interim board chairperson Prof Malegapuru Makgoba has suggested that public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan sanctioned intelligence gathering by the utility’s former boss Andre de Ruyter as they battled to deal with criminal activity at the entity.
Makgoba, who was Eskom board’s interim chairperson between January 2020 and October 2022, confirmed that he knew about the intelligence operation to probe illegal activities but said he had never seen its findings.
“Indeed De Ruyter did inform me. I can confirm that,” said Makgoba.
He said the former CEO had also informed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s security adviser Sydney Mufamadi and Gordhan about the private intelligence operation.
Makgoba suggested that Ramaphosa, himself, may have known about it because in his state of the nation address in February he said: “The South African Police Service has established a dedicated team with senior leadership to deal with the pervasive corruption and theft at several power stations that has contributed to the poor performance of these stations. Intelligence-driven operations at Eskom-related sites have so far resulted in 43 arrests.”
“Which intelligence-driven operations were these that led to 43 people being arrested?” asked Makgoba rhetorically.
De Ruyter’s commissioning of an intelligence operation was an operational matter because Eskom at the time was plagued by sabotage and corruption and was not getting any attention from law enforcement agencies, said Makgoba
“I was informed that an intelligence operation was under way at Eskom, and I think the minister of public enterprises was the one who brought this matter because Eskom was besieged, and he said to Andre [de Ruyter], you have to gather some intelligence somehow,” said Makgoba on Wednesday.
“He didn’t say it must be done in the manner Andre did, but he said we needed to gather some intelligence,” said Makgoba.
I was informed that an intelligence operation was under way at Eskom, and I think the minister of public enterprises was the one who brought this matter because Eskom was besieged, and he said to Andre [de Ruyter], you have to gather some intelligence somehow.
— Prof Malegapuru Makgoba, former Eskom interim board chairperson
Makgoba was appearing before parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) to respond to allegations of unlawful activities made by De Ruyter in an eNCA interview in February.
Makgoba said Gordhan and the Eskom board were frustrated with increasing load-shedding and criminal activities at the utility and wanted the executive management to get to the bottom of the wrongdoing.
They were also aware of corruption and sabotage and wanted the executive management to come up with solutions to that, said Makgoba.
The intelligence probe has become a hot potato with police, law enforcement and the entity’s own board and executive managers distancing themselves from the process, saying not only were they not aware of the investigation but they have never seen its outcomes.
Makgoba said he too had never received any evidence or documentation but got the message from De Ruyter, who told him he would share the findings of the investigation with the police and other law enforcement agencies. He confirmed that other executive managers at the entity were not privy to what was going on in terms of intelligence gathering.
The former interim chair also spoke at length about his board’s frustration at the lack of action from the police and other law enforcement agencies, saying “if those agencies had done their work effectively and efficiently, we wouldn’t meeting here as a committee today”.
De Ruyter had meetings with former head of the Investigating Directorate, Adv Hermione Cronje, as Eskom management was concerned that they were reporting matters and were not getting any returns, that the Hawks were not doing what they were supposed to be doing, or were taking too long and appeared almost lackadaisical about what needed to be done.
He said this repeated itself in a number of ways in cases that were reported either to the police or to the Hawks with very little action.
“As a board, we were concerned that our jewel in the crown was being destroyed when we have a security cluster that seems to be asleep and these were matters of concern.
“These concerns were raised by the board as to what action is actually happening and we left these matters to De Ruyter as part of management,” said Makgoba.
De Ruyter told Scopa last month that Eskom had not only contracted private security to investigate coal theft and tampering, but overt and covert surveillance and intelligence gathering had been put in place.
He added that as a result of an intelligence-led operation, significant information had been gathered on the extent of organised crime in Eskom, particularly in Mpumalanga.
De Ruyter said: “The findings of this investigation have been extensively shared with senior officers in the SAPS, in compliance with reporting obligations, and co-operation with the SAPS is continuing.”
On Tuesday, the Special Investigating Unit said it wanted the use of a private intelligence operation by De Ruyter to be investigated.
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